Friday, April 28, 2017

probably the only Z16 (396 SS) 1965 Chevelle still with it's original owner, and he hasn't driven it since 1971

Gottlob’s Chevelle was driven until 1971 and parked with 68k miles and is all original. “I built the building where it’s currently parked in 1974,” says Gottlob. “The car has been in its current location since 1974 and never moved.”

Gottlob set the world quarter-mile speed record in Alton, Illinois in a 1959 Corvette with a 283 - 290 hp fuellie at 12.01 seconds and 112 mph. The new record thrashed the previous record by more than 2 seconds, catching the attention of the CEO of Chevrolet and Vince Piggins who was Chevy’s Manager of Product Performance

After agreeing to reveal his secret enhancements to the 1959 Corvette, they gave him a 409 engine for research and development in exchange for the experimentation data. They also used his enhancements to the 283 engine in the 1959 Corvette as a baseline blueprint for the 1961 283 - 315 hp engine.

He was drafted for the Vietnam war, but kept in touch with Piggins and Cole, and they got him in on the best cars with limited runs being made, like the Z16 Chevelle (200 made) and the very 1st 1965 Corvette 396 made.

He bought the '65 Vette, but then without seeing yet, traded it up for the Chevelle because of it's limited production.

Also they hooked him up with on a 1 of 20 1967 Corvette L88 427, which he bought and raced in the 24 hours of Daytona taking first place in his class.